What I learnt from the CBI debacle

How should business work with government?

There a number of things I have learnt from the debacle at the cbi. 

Most of all, like everyone, i feel sad for the women whose awful allegations revealed the “toxic culture” and for the hard working employees who do not have a clear sense of the future. An old boss once said to me “no one gets out of bed in the morning to do a bad job”. Even when so much noise swirls around a company, it is essential to remember those words and be compassionate to the vast majority of the team who had nothing to do with the scandal but are deeply affected by it.

Whatever the size of your organisation, the cbi can serve as a reminder to every leader and every board member, that it is vital to consider your own governance, whistleblowing and safeguarding processes. “There but for the grace of god” rings in my ears, and if complacency sets in, then so will, most likely, the rot. It should be a standing item on your board agenda to review the processes that enable honest employee feedback and communication, but importantly, it has to be more than a box ticking exercise. Dame Helena Morisey, doyenne of the city, knows a thing or two about this subject. She was with me on the Today programme this week reminding us that the work of stamping out sexual misconduct doesn’t stop just because your employee satisfaction surveys give you top marks.

I have also reflected on the media progression of this story. It swirled around over a weekend - always a bad time for things to break as inherently reaction times become a bit slower in organisations while in parallel news organisations want news, especially business news, as there tends to be less happening. What surprised me was the level of attention - especially from the BBC’s headline shows. Perhaps I should not have been surprised, as a high profile lobbying group, the cbi has courted the media and therefore should have  expected the reverse treatment too. This escalation did however, reinforce that it is always necessary to get out on the front foot in a crisis. Brian mc bride, the very experienced president of the cbi said as much in his apology letter. He acknowledged that the organisation should have said more, to more stakeholders, more quickly. If Brian thinks this, then less seasoned leaders should do well to listen. Hideous surprises can creep up on all of us. 

Finally, I have thought a lot about two more substantive points. Firstly, what role does business play in society and what does the relationship with government  need to be? It might feel to some people that the idea of business lobbying the government is marginally dubious. I disagree. In these deeply uncertain political and economic times, it is vital that the links between the two remain close. Clearly, there is no growth without good business growth. More than that, the huge issues that the U.K. faces will be solved partly by business. Whether it is reaching our net zero targets, addressing the technology onslaught with confidence or helping more vulnerable communities prosper, business is at the heart of the conversation. However well meaning, it gets increasingly hard for Prime Ministers and ministers to engage deeply with the private sector - we see the set photo of a cabinet member in a  white lab coat looking round the latest nuclear/life science/food manufacturing facility but these are highly managed moments. 

This brings me to my final observation. The media and some politicians were quick to write off the cbi. They were also quick to reach the conclusion that we need a new organisation. Again, i disagree.

I am President of the British Chambers of commerce. This extraordinary institution is busy quietly representing British business internationally, nationally and locally. We have been at the highest level of decision-making for over 160 years - it is our bread and butter. We have around 100,000 members and operate through the network of 79 independently run chambers all over the world. 

This amazing reach allows us to understand deeply how businesses are feeling and what issues different areas of the country are facing. We run quarterly trade and confidence surveys that inform our policy work and our partners. The chambers do enormous work in their regions but they also suport each other. One of my favourite data points is around trade. Only 10% of uk businesses trade overseas but over 60% of chamber members do. That’s network effects in action.

Through the storm of the last week, our day-to-day operations didnt change. We  continued to engage with our members, Chambers and of course Government, opposition and all parliamentarians as normal. Shevaun Havilland, our energetic CEO, met with Kemi Badenoch to raise our member’s concerns about the Retained EU Law Bill. She was also furiously networking at Number 10’s outreach to industry event - Business Connect. I am writing this from Edinburgh where I am meeting chamber members to hear their views. Our chair, sarah Howard has been visiting chambers in the Midlands. I don’t say all this to boast, merely to show the strength and vibrancy of our organisation.

Winston Churchill is supposed to have said “never let a crisis go to waste”. So lets not. Let’s support uk business and let’s do it through the brilliant organisation right in front of us.